Who Are Those Guys? Very Wise Men!

Who were the wisemen? It was the the magi who figured out exactly where to find the child, Jesus.  How did they know who he was, when the political and religious leaders of the day didn't realize who he was? It is interesting that these men who were 'Gentiles' saw a pattern in the stars and saw  significant events involving the planet Jupiter and knew to follow it's path to Judea. They were astronomers. Astronomy can be a precise science when it pertains to the motions of the planets and position of the stars in relation to the earth night time sky.

Magi were advisors to the oriental kings. They carried tremendous power and influence in there own kingdoms, that often they were influential in the designation of a king. We can read about them during the time of Daniel when certain ones of Judea were carried away captive to Babylon and became part of the Persian court where the magi served. Daniel exhibited tremendous spiritual insight as he listened to God and spoke for Him among these people. The king respected and gave glory to the God of Daniel and made him president over the magi. Daniel would have taught them the Word concerning a coming Messiah. Daniel had a huge impact on these men as they watched him believe God in some very severe challenges.

Several years ago, I taught Astronomy at the local high school and the deeper I got into studying the stars and planet motions I knew there was no accidental design involved in their display. It is  a truly humbling experience. I imagine those magi saw and understood the same thing. Can you imagine the great conversations with Daniel they had. It must have been exceedingly rich interaction.

On one occasion at an Astronomy teacher's conference, someone asked about the Bethlehem star. At that moment we were looking at a computer program that could come up with the exact replica of the night time sky, once you programmed in latitude, longitude and a range of dates. So I told the computer operator to type in August/September  3BC over Bethlehem and up came a representation of the sky  around the time of Jesus Christ's birth.  The sky spoke for itself. There had been a couple of beautiful conjunctions involving the constellation Leo (the king constellation) and Regulus (king star in the constellation located between the feet of Leo the lion) and the planet Jupiter (the king planet). It was beautifully represented!

It is also beautifully spoken of in the Word in Genesis 49:9-10

Genesis 49:9-10 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

God is the designer of the universe. In Psalm 147:4, the psalmist says:

He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.

Who were the magi? They not only journeyed to see him, they also provided wonderful gifts to support the new king. I'd say they were very humble, respectful men of action.